Database error, not cyberattack, led to air travel stoppage, FAA says

The FAA said Wednesday evening that a “damaged database file” was the root cause of a systemwide failure in its NOTAM safety information database, which grounded flights across the US for several hours that morning. There was “no evidence of a cyberattack,” according to the agency.

The ground stop was issued early Wednesday morning, shortly after the NOTAM — or Notice to Air Missions — system crashed, halting departures nationwide even as the airways recover from mass cancellations at Southwest Airlines over the holidays. Flights resumed later in the morning.

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